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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793447">A Tale Of Thieves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatFlowerGirl/pseuds/ThatFlowerGirl'>ThatFlowerGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>I wrote this in ninth grade and thought it was good enough for ao3, Implied/Referenced Slavery, don't get too attached to will, is he gay?, is she gay?, she's really just a rich bitch with morality issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:54:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,555</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793447</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatFlowerGirl/pseuds/ThatFlowerGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A young girl trained to wreak havoc travels away from her home to find herself in a time when she was told not to.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter One</p><p>The game was afoot. As she ran throughout the rather large house, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud. A real, genuine laugh, a sound that hadn’t yet been heard since her mother passed. But it was not to last. As she rounded the corner, she was stopped by the sudden body in front of her. The poor panic stricken boy, he had no chance after <em>he </em>saw them. <em>He </em>was Eddard Garret. And <em>he</em> was her father.</p><p> </p><p>“My dear daughter, why do you continue to associate yourself with this child? He is nothing more than the help.” He had the words of a gentleman, but an air of power and authority. She knew he was not asking anything, but demanding her to speak.</p><p> </p><p>“He is my friend, and I refuse to refer to anyone as lower in station than myself,” she remarked with the same icy authority, “But you wouldn’t know that, would you Father?”</p><p> </p><p>She quickly grabbed the taller boy’s wrist and whirled through the hallways, stopping only when they found themselves at the kitchen in the basement. “How did you do that? How do you manage to speak to him like that?” he asked of her quizzically.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh my dear William, when you grow up in the same household as the most beautiful girl in Virginia, one learns to have a sharp tongue,” She remarked quickly. “But you need to hurry on now Will, get back to your chores and blend in with everyone else. Because if <em>he </em>finds you…”</p><p>She didn’t need to finish her words; the silence spoke for her. The first time she had made a friend that wasn’t of the same social standing as her family, the young servant girl was flogged half to death. Her first kiss, albeit in the woods at night, was interrupted by Eddard’s hounds ripping the boy to shreds. </p><p> </p><p>As young Will slipped into the kitchen, a stranger came out of the shadows and grabbed him. “Thought you could get away with playing around with Miss Lanie here, didn’t ya kitchen boy?” The man was wearing a freshly pressed suit of grey wool and had a pocket watch polished so brightly she couldn’t bear to gaze upon it. Her eyes traveled up to his face. Instead of the rough and sunburned face she would have expected, Lanie saw a neatly trimmed mustache and greased back, grey hair. His appearance was kindly enough, but his sneer was dastardly, and those eyes. His eyes were as dark as Will’s, but held none of his warmth, like a fire that hadn’t been started in many years. </p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t mean nothing by it, Sir. We was jus playin’ around thuh house when we bumped inta Mister Garret,” Will said in a much heavier drawl than usual. Never had she heard him sound so terrified of anything in the entirety of her knowing him. The stranger cocked his head to the side and seemed to stare into their very souls. </p><p> </p><p>“I am no sir,” the cold-eyed man said, “I am Albert Francisco of the Western Trading Company and you would do well to remember it.”</p><p> </p><p>The name sent chills down her spine. This man had been responsible for transporting hundreds of free Africans across the borders of many states to slavers and out to the west for a huge profit. What kind of a man can look into his child’s eyes after the horrors he had caused that day? How does this man get away with the atrocities he has caused? Of course being one of the richest men in the South will ensure you stay out of jail. </p><p> </p><p>Albert Francisco was one of her father’s many business partners, most of whom Lanie had never met. Whenever her father had his business meetings, she and her sister were ushered out into the yard, where their lessons were held as well as where they learned how to defend themselves. She had become quite adept with quickly shooting pistols and reloading even faster. They even learned hand-to-hand combat, which was both scandalous and unheard of at the time. </p><p> </p><p>Even after her sister, Evelyn, had married a wealthy plantation owner, her lessons continued and she could now almost beat her training master. But she could never please her father. No matter how hard she tried, Lanie could never please him. So eventually, she just stopped trying. Lanie befriended many of her father’s servants as well as their children. She was always the opposite of Evelyn, the only thing they really bonded over was their mutual love of fighting. </p><p>But it all happened so fast. She didn’t have time to react to what Mister Francisco did to Will.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter Two</p><p>
  <em>~5 years later~</em>
</p><p>She had not forgotten what he had done to Will. She didn’t even see it coming, he just took him away. Lanie could not dwell on the past, not right now. The task at hand required her utmost concentration. As she set up the small red sticks that signified dynamite, Lanie could not help thinking about sausages. Sausages made her think of the wonderful breakfast that awaited her back at the old saloon. But breakfast must wait if she were to succeed in her mission. </p><p> </p><p>Just as she was finishing up the little bundle of red sticks, a faint whistle blew. Then it became louder and louder, and the screech of metal wheels against steel tracks became deafening. As soon as Lanie realized that the train was almost there, she jumped away from the tracks and leaped upon her waiting horse. The whole operation had been planned out. The dynamite had been set down upon the tracks so that the sparks generated from metal wheels striking the track would set off the sticks. It was a rather ingenious plan, as she did do it all by herself, wanting to really prove her worth with the <em>unsavory </em>crowd she had fallen in with over the past few years. </p><p> </p><p>The five years that had passed had started out rough. Leaving home was terrifying, but one of the easiest things she had ever done. After everything that had happened with Will, she packed her things and ran away to the west. She had done anything and everything to earn a few greenbacks and maybe a nugget here and there, even selling her sword to the highest bidder. It had worked out well for the most part, until the day everyone at the old town saloon found out that the young boy with the iron grip and fast pistols was actually a very freckly red-haired girl that could really hold her drink. </p><p> </p><p>The next thing she knew, she was being dragged out into the muddy streets by her long red hair, people streaming out behind her. Women were screaming, men calling for blood and to let her join the whores upstairs. Lanie assumed they would strip her down to her underclothes and feed her to the cats. That is until <em>they</em> showed up. The Red Men rode into town, drank their fill and satisfied their needs upstairs and left to go and raid another train or take all that thefew rich frontiersmen foolish enough to cross the plains had. But as she was being thrown, grabbed, and jeered at, they came rumbling down the stairs. Pushing and shoving men and women alike away from Lanie and her captor, they finally came upon her and the man holding upon her hair. </p><p> </p><p>“Why men, what do we have here?”, the oldest of the group said, laughter dying down as he did, “I do believe that this here fella has forgotten how to treat a woman right.”</p><p> </p><p>No one was laughing now. The entirety of the throng was as silent as the grave and filled with the promise of death. Lanie had never seen a deadlier and terrible group in her life, and she wanted to join them more than anything.</p><p> </p><p>“Child, why have they taken your weapons and thrown you in the streets?”, the greying man asked.</p><p> </p><p>“They seem to think that being a woman makes me unable to do a job that most cannot,” she said in an impassive tone.</p><p> </p><p>“Well I believe that anyone can do anything if they have the talent for it, and I think that you have a talent,” a woman spoke this time, yellow-haired and beautiful, “Join our merry band of misfits and broken things, a large group where anyone can be anything and travel everywhere.”</p><p>And that was how Lanie Garret came to join the Red Men. That fateful day, she became known as the Blackbird, the fastest woman in the west in both words and guns. Eventually she went back to her home in Virginia, but found it burned, her family still inside as it lit up in flames. Lanie could think of so many horrible memories of that place, but just as many happy, all before her mother was murdered years before. Still she had to avenge everyone who had been friendly to her, Evelyn and Will and the women who gave them treats at before dinner. This she knew, the Blackbird would have her vengeance for her friends and family. And she would have it, no matter the cost nor the years it took.</p><p> </p><p>Even if she was the one holding the matches.</p>
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